The English Home October 2023 - Sample Issue

Notebook

17

English Homes

38 CORNISH HEIRLOOM A new lease of life has been given to a house owned by the same family for nearly a century.

48 COLLECTOR’S FUSION This Georgian manor house is a treasure trove of mid-century pieces and African art.

56 LAYERING HISTORY Thoughtful curation and sensitive renovation restore a Tudor home in Hertfordshire to its ancient origins.

64 A TOWNHOUSE REIMAGINED One couple’s dream of having a home for entertaining and housing treasured collections becomes an elegant reality.

Style Inspiration

73 TOE THE LINE Bert & May celebrates 10 years with a range of striped tiles.

74 CHANGE OF SEASON Freshen schemes with the latest wallpapers and fabrics.

84 ROBERT KIME: THE GREATEST ASSEMBLER

A celebration of the renowned decorator and his private collections.

93 THE WONDERS OF WOOL Five innovative companies making the most of this natural fibre.

100 GREEN – CREATIVE COMBINATIONS

The enduring appeal of this serene shade and how to use it in the home.

111 SMALL BUT MIGHTY How to choose hardware to elevate interiors.

120 AN INTERIORS GUIDE TO CHELSEA DESIGN QUARTER Our Little Black Book of places to visit.

Living the Season

127 QUICK SWEET SPICED PLUM TART A delicious recipe for autumn.

128 WHAT TO DO IN OCTOBER Inspiring activities to enjoy this month.

134 MARKING THE SEASON Creative ways with natural pigments.

140 AUTUMN’S GLORY Best gardens to visit for flame-hued arboreal displays.

146 ONE FINAL THING Create a cocooning bed with layered pattern.

NOTEBOOK

SPOTLIGHT ON…

Both Useful & Beautiful

After struggling to find just the right finishing touches to complete home and hotel projects over the past 15 years, interior designer Nicola Harding has designed and launched NiX, her own retail brand, with lighting, furniture, textiles and upholstery collections, plus more to come. “Our aim with NiX is to help existing clients and new customers to source elegant, accessibly priced pieces that provide the perfect solution for their projects,” she explains. Nicola describes lighting as “the unsung hero of homemaking”, and adds that “playing with lighting is the most effective way to alter the feel of a place”. Each piece is made in Europe by skilled craftspeople using traditional techniques and responsibly sourced materials. nicolaharding.com

Exquisitely Fashioned

Farrow & Ball’s latest collaboration

Skilled fashion designers create the perfect capsule wardrobe enabling every piece to be mixed and matched in endless combinations creating myriad different looks to express individual style. So New York fashion designer Christopher John Rogers was the perfect choice to collaborate with Farrow & Ball on a capsule collection of pattern and colour for the home Entitled Carte Blanche, this versatile new range features 12 paint colours – eight statement shades and four neutrals – and three playful wallpapers printed with Farrow & Ball paint, and all handcrafted in Dorset.

From vivid blue to verdant green and cheerful pink to foundational neutrals, inspiration came from cherished memories of food and family. Christopher says: “Colours – and the feelings that I get from them – are always my starting point when working, so when Farrow & Ball reached out regarding the collaboration, it seemed like the most natural fit. With their emphasis on quality and longevity, and my emphasis on artful, declarative design, I think this partnership has created something incredibly exciting by mining the space between both feelings.”

Farrow & Ball creative director Charlotte Cosby says: “I’ve been a fan of Christopher for years and I’m obsessed with his use of colour; he treats it so tenderly and the result can be a beautifully tempered explosion or a slick, confident splash. Craft and attention to detail are intrinsic to both of our processes, so I always knew this collaboration was going to be something special.” farrow-ball.com

Nostalgic By Nature Designer & artist Jess Wheeler

Using stone, plaster, bronze and brass, designer and artist Jess Wheeler handcrafts beautiful creations inspired by the Welsh landscape surrounding her home and studio. From wall lights, sconces and brackets to sculptures and objets d’art, all have a nostalgic, nature-driven narrative reminding us all of the beauty and fragility of our natural world.

A former set designer who moved from London to rural North Wales, Jess also takes on bespoke commissions, with an impressive global clientele from Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik to Fortnum & Mason, Claridge’s, Oka, Selfridges and more – she even makes bespoke bridal bouquets with flowers fashioned from brass.

Jess first does lots of drawings studying the natural form of each leaf, flower or vegetable she depicts and makes a version using wire and paper before beginning a piece. She also teaches workshops, including how to make a bunch of everlasting mistletoe from recycled sheet brass and wire in one day at Master The Art in Shropshire on 17 October. jesswheeler.com

Cornish HEIRLOOM

Designer Alice Gates has given the Cornish home that has been in her family for nearly a century a new lease of life with an abundance of colour and pattern

The kitchen table and chairs were handmade for Alice’s parents in the Nineties and sit below a Pooky Aphrodite pendant in rattan. The bespoke kitchen was crafted by Guild Anderson with concrete work surfaces by Fluid Stone Studio and handles by Buster & Punch.

LAYERING History

Interior designer Amanda Ransom has sensitively restored her Tudor home, filling it with a curation of pieces that sit comfortably with its ancient origins

FEATURE AMANDA HARLING PHOTOGRAPHY ANDREAS VON EINSIEDEL

RIGHT The gabled farmhouse dates from the 16th century with later additions, the latest being the single-storey section behind the yew tree, built by the Ransoms to create additional living space.

ABOVE Amanda in the porch adjoining the house’s main entrance.

NATURAL CHOICE

Add eye-catching interest to interiors with an array of vibrant green accessories and furnishings

1 Undulating Stripes lamp in green glass and brass, £950, Pentreath & Hall 2 Stig Stripe wallpaper, Mint, £98 a roll, Cathy Nordström 3 Delft Watering Can tile, Green, £32, Petra Palumbo 4 Paint swatches (from top): Capability Green, Antibes Green, Amsterdam Green, Florence Green, all £26.95 for 1l Chalk Paint, Annie Sloan 5 Sthal serving plate in Seaweed, £89, Curated Living 6 Lotus lampshade, Green, £28, Mrs Alice

7 Marlia accent chair in dark wood and N142 fabric, from £1,060, Ercol

erving in lampshade, and

8 Cobana gloss marble-effect porcelain tile, from £70.80 a square metre, Living Jewels green salad bowl, £22, Kew Gardens Portland two-door sideboard in Fern, from £999, Painted Furniture Victorian Glasshouse fabric, Spruce, £30 a metre, ILIV Soldanelle cushion, Vert de Gris, £150, Rapture & Wright